A Dream Come True
by Gwen Moongoddess
Summary: This is a story I wrote for school last year. It has some explanations for my teacher, who had never read Redwall. Basically, my best friend and I get magically transported to Mossflower Wood, in the time of Martin the Warrior. I hate the title.


Kelsey Mead

Disclaimer:I don't own Redwall or Martin the Warrior or Rose or any of these characters.All characters are either real people or were created by the fabulous Brian Jacques for his wonderful Redwall series.

Author's Note:This story contradicts a few of the Redwall books.It takes place in a happier reality where Rose didn't die, but for some reason she and Martin and many of the other characters didn't go to Noonvale, but instead kept on traveling until they reached Mossflower.And the rest is history.

One day I took a peaceful walk in the woods with my friend, Anna.The trees loomed around us, long arms stretching toward the heavens.Suddenly, we came upon a vast expanse of meadowland, stretching out as far as the eye could see.Staring at it in wonder, we started out.The grass was a beautiful golden color, and it stirred in the breeze, waving gently.Above us. Larks and swallows and who knows how many other kinds of songbirds trilled their sweet melodies, soaring and dipping in ecstasy.The sky was a beautiful sapphire blue, completely cloudless.I caught my breath."Look," I whispered softly, pointing.There, only a few feet away, was a mother deer and her tiny fawn.They looked up, startled by the sound of my voice.Upon seeing us, they loped off to graze elsewhere.

After a short while, we came to a single, beautiful, ornately carved swing, which seemed to hang from absolutely nothing at all.The seat was carved from mahogany, covered in beautiful designs of all kinds of wildlife scenes.Ropes of gold spiraled up towards the heavens.The seat was wide enough to accommodate the both of us, so we climbed up on it and sat side by side.Then, very slowly at first, but getting faster and faster, we began to swing.

Eventually I noticed that with every swing, we were rising higher and higher.It happened so fast that I had no time to jump off.

We eventually reached a point where we seemed to rise up from the ground in a completely different reality.When we had fully emerged from the ground, the swing came to a sudden stop.We hopped off.

"Umm, Gwen?" Anna said tentatively."I don't think we're in Kansas any more."I laughed weakly.

We stretched out, observing our surroundings with curiosity.We appeared to be in a woodland of some sort.Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement.I told Anna, and we both turned toward whatever it was coming toward us.We gaped, mouths hanging open.Coming towards us, talking animatedly and not seeming to notice our presence, were two _enormous beasts!Well, all right, maybe not quite __that big, only about our size, but for what they were, they were certainly huge.Mice.That's what they were. Giant mice, each wearing some sort of dark green robe.__Habits, I realized.One of them, who appeared to be male, (I think the other was female) had a sword, scabbard and all, attached to a matching belt around his waist.The sword, which was obviously a magnificent blade, had a glittering ruby attached to the hilt.The female gazed adoringly at his face as he spoke. The two were obviously in love.I shared this same thought with my friend.She nodded vigorously._

They stopped when they noticed us standing in front of them. Then he cleared his throat."Good morning, stranger. How are you today?"

I stared."Are you . . . Martin the Warrior?" I asked, dumbfounded.

Why yes, I am! You've heard of me?"I nodded dumbly."And this is Rose, my uhhh . . . friend." He gestured toward his attractive companion."And who might you be?"

This might be a good time to explain.Martin the Warrior is an important influential character in the fantasy series _Redwall, by Brian Jacques, a British author.He was one of the founders of Redwall Abbey, for which the series is named.His sword is particularly famous, which is why I used it to recognize him.But I should also explain the basics of the Redwall world. You see, there are certain "good and evil" animals.The "good" animals include: mice, shrews, moles, voles, squirrels, hedgehogs, otters, badgers, sparrows and most other small birds, and owls and other birds of prey. The "evil" animals include: rats, ferrets, weasels, martens (not to be confused with Martin!), stoats, foxes, crows, ravens, magpies, jackdaws, and the occasional wildcat. (There were actually a few "good" wildcats, too.) _

"I'm Gwen, and this is _my friend, Anna," I replied._

"You've heard of Redwall Abbey, I trust?" Martin asked.

"Yes," we said in unison.

"Well, we were just returning there, would you like to come with us?"Martin inquired."Of course, you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Yes," we replied. (In unison. [Again.])

"Well, then what are we waiting for?!"Rose spoke to us for the first time."Let's go!"We took off at a run through Mossflower Woods, for that is surely where we were.When we arrived there, we were introduced to some of the many friends of the warrior and the mousemaid.There were the two badger mothers, Rowanoak and Bella, several mice, including Gonff, Brome (Rose's younger brother), Gauchee, and Kastern; the hares Ballaw De Quincewold, Trubbs, Wother, Ffring, Harebell, Honeydew, and Willow; Starwort and Skipper, the two otter leaders; the moles Grumm, Young Dinny, Old Dinny (the former's grandfather), and Buckler; and the squirrels Lady Amber (the squirrel queen), Felldoh, Celandine, and Trefoil.We also met Abbess Germaine, a mouse, and the friendly wildcat Squire Gingivere Greeneyes, with his wife, Lady Sandingomm.

Redwall Abbey was the idea of Abbess Germaine; she was the other founder of the great sandstone building.Gingivere, rather ironically, was the son of an evil tyrant and the younger brother of Tsarmina, Queen of the Thousand Eyes, an even more evil character than her father ever was.This vile cat had murdered her father and immediately blamed it on her brother, who was promptly thrown in prison for his sister's crime.Anyway, long story; if you'd like to the rest of it, read _Mossflower._

Oh, I almost forgot!While we were there, Martin proposed to Rose!She accepted, of course.The ceremony was beautiful.After much thought, the groom finally named Gonff Best Mouse.Rose, most appropriately, named Columbine, Gonff's wife, with whom she had become great friends, Mousematron of Honor.Little Gonff, or Gonflet, named after his father, was the ring bearer.It was a day filled with joy for all at Redwall.

Before we knew it, a week had gone by.Within that week, Rose became pregnant, and not too long after that, a beautiful, healthy baby girl was born.Delighted, her parents named her Rosebud, in honor of her mother.She developed rather quickly, and, to the delight of all, soon found a faithful friend and a lively playmate in Gonff's young son.Together, the two youngsters thought of all sorts of new and imaginative games.Anna loved to watch them as they pretended to be one person, then another, in one place, then another, and as there is there is nothing a child loves more than an audience, they enjoyed it, too.

One day, I sat on the grass with Anna, chatting rather lazily with her.Rosebud snored softly in my lap, and Gonflet slept in hers.

"They look so peaceful," my friend remarked.I nodded my agreement, yawning in just the slightest manner.We sat quietly for several minutes, each with our own separate, different thoughts . . . or maybe not so different.

"We've been gone for quite a while, haven't we?" I said suddenly.Anna nodded."But . . . we can't leave.It's so wonderful here. So . . Magical."

"It is wonderful.I don't want to stay here either," Anna replied rather sadly."But what about our families, our friends, our _homes?We can't just forget about them and stay here forever.We __have to go, sooner or later._

Quite reluctantly, I agreed."Oh, but I hate to leave."

"I know," Anna said softly."I do too.I do too."

"Martin, we need to speak to you," I said.The mouse warrior waved a paw distractedly."Yeah, just a second, okay?"He was demonstrating to a spellbound Rosebud and Gonff some of his favorite sword tricks.

"Okay, we'll wait, but make it quick, will you?" I called back as we left the room.

"Now, what was it you wanted to speak to me about?" Martin asked.It was later, of course, and we now had his undivided attention.

"You see," Anna began, "we love it here. We really do.It's just that, well, we've got homes of our own, too, and friends and family that might be worrying about us as we speak."

Martin sighed."I understand.And you're right, you must return to your own homes, where you belong.I wish to thank you, for making a difference in my life, in Rose's life, and most importantly of all, in my daughter's life.We will never forget you, Anna and Gwen."

"Nor we you," I said softly.Anna nodded slowly."Martin, _you are unforgettable.You all are."He was silent for several minutes.Neither Anna nor I made a single sound either. Then he said briskly,_

"Well, I suppose I should inform the others of the sad news.Later."He left.Suddenly, Anna and I flung our arms around each other in a tight embrace.Together, we wept.

I must have given more hugs that day than I have in the entire rest of my life, and nearly fifty percent of them were for Rosebud and Gonflet.The dynamic duo had become overly fond of the two of us over the time we had spent in their home.For Anna the situation was similar.The four proud parents, Martin, Rose, Gonff, and Columbine, nearly burst with barelysuppressed laughter as we tried in vain to pry the little paws from our legs and arms.Finally, after bidding farewell at least a dozen times to each resident of Redwall, we started out, accompanied by the two tiny youngsters and their parents.

It was quite a while before we sighted the golden ropes, the intricately carved mahogany seat.When we finally did so, we turned to our friends with sorrowful faces.One by one, we warmly embraced each of them.Then, we approached the swing, sitting down slowly.Before we knew it, we were back in the beautiful meadow.We found our way back to the trail without much difficulty and within about twenty minutes arrived back at my house.No one was home.I checked the calendar. Blinked.Looked again.I saw the same thing I saw the first time.

The date had not changed. 


End file.
